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13 June 2015

Why I don't have a kindle?

Recently I saw these Kindle advertisements of famous Indian authors, Amish and Ashwin Sanghi and their crazy love for reading.( I wondered why they didn't use Chetan Bhagat. It could be that Rs 99 books on expensive kindle are not worth the deal. )

And I thought what about love for books. There is a reason beyond reading, the love of books. There is something in the feel of books - the yellowing paper, the musky fragrance, the gorgeous cover, the hard spine, the streams of paper, the varied bookmarks and the finger in the nook. I love all this.

kindle is practical but not everything is about being practical. Are breakable delicate porcelain cups practical? They are just pretty. Carrying books everywhere is difficult but to carry one is such a feel good. That one book you travel with. The one you read when you want to get transported to other world. The real world becomes boring and the book world just brilliant. To collect those first or second editions and hold them forever. To open a random page and read a random quote. The time spent reading that book, those mornings, those afternoons, those evenings and nights. To have a love note hidden in its folds or the picture of a loved one or a flower drying of nostalgia.

Why I don't have a kindle? For the crazy love of books. Because love for reading is not complete without love of books.